The Board of Directors of Arab National Bank in Saudi Arabia, has recommended to the General Assembly to increase of the bank's capital of from US$1.733 billion to US$ 2.26 billion, an increase of 31 percent.

The Bank said in a statement: "The capital increase will be through the granting of four shares for every 13 stocks, thus increasing the number of shares from 650 million to 850 million shares."

The statement added: "The goal of the capital increase is to strengthen the capital base of the bank, which will contribute to achieving good growth rates in the coming years."

The Board of Directors also decided that Arab National Bank will recommend to the General Assembly to be held during the first quarter of 2011, the adoption of a cash dividend of SR1 for each share of the Bank for the fiscal year 2010.

ANB reported a net profit of US$ 429 million for the first nine months of 2010 compared to US$ 553 million for the same period last year. ANB total operating income for the first nine months of 2010 reached USD 898 million, representing a slight decrease of 2.0% compared to last year.